Can we get a correction or at least a clarification on Colorado Public Radio’s running list of police shootings so it no longer says this?
This list compiles all shootings that involve Colorado police departments that have occurred since Jan. 1, 2021. For the purposes of this list, a shooting is defined as an incident where a police officer and/or suspect discharges a firearm.
There have been 12 police shootings so far in 2021. Sixteen people have died in shootings that involved police officers, including a mass shooting in Boulder.
Those 16 people did not die in a shooting that involved a police officer, they died in shootings in which a police officer was also killed.
No one was killed by police in Boulder that day.
The confusing language appears to be public radio’s response to new style guidelines from the Associated Press to avoid being vague when writing about police shootings to more accurately reflect police have shot someone.
Editor’s Note: CPR News follows Associated Press guidance established in the fall of 2020 on avoiding the vague term “officer-involved shooting.” While this language has been used in the past, it is now our intention to be specific on what is known, what is not known — and why — when these events occur.
In Boulder, police shot the suspect in the leg — a non-fatal injury — after the suspect killed 10 people including a police officer.